Culture & Celebrity

...Alas, Johnny Depp is going public with his eco-lifestyle. A few years back, the super-private actor and hater of Hollywood excess bought a 35-acre Caribbean Island he endearingly named "F*ck Off Island." Now he's planning to have his "leave me alone" paradise run on clean energy. According to the Huffington Post, the actor is third in line to receive a grid-independent solar hydrogen system from Mike Strizki, the man who created the first solar- hydrogen house in the United States.
Via:ecorazzi

Food & Health

Downtown Real Estate Too Expensive for Food Production?
Vertical Farming has gotten us TreeHuggers excited on more than one occasion. From this diagonal tower to a lively debate in our forums, the concept of moving food production closer to population centres is certainly an intriguing one (not to mention reducing the geographical footprint of a farm). However, there are dissenters. And the ever thoughtful Adam Stein of TerraPass is one of the most eloquent. This from his latest blog entry on the apparently “half-baked†concept of vertical farms:

Cars & Transportation

The story of Igor the bicycle thief in Toronto just gets more astonishing by the day; his concert pianist wife, "one of Canada's best accompanists," was just charged. He seems to be personally responsible for the City's reputation as the bike theft capital of North America; the picture shows just some of the 2,000 bicycles police have pulled out of houses, garages and warehouses.

I will stop being churlish and asking why it took so long, and will just be thankful that it might be over. ::Eye

More on Bike Thieves, and how to slow them down:
Toronto Bike Theft King Closed Down. Finally.
How to Prevent Bike Theft :
The Bike Thief: Video Exposes Cyclist's Vulnerability

Interact

Bonnie quotes the Independent: "More effectively than any save-the-planet propaganda, financial pressures are forcing people to rethink they way they behave as consumers. The old-fashioned idea that waste is harmful, personally and socially, is returning. The absurd over-packaging of food in supermarkets has begun to seem absurdly profligate. There is a new interest in allotments, in growing vegetables, even in rearing poultry in the back garden."

Business & Politics

(Image: Takakuku)

As the weekend approaches, I'm thinking of the beach and maybe going for a swim. The Pacific Ocean is a wonderful place to go on a steaming hot July day, on this side of it as well.

What is not so great is the trash. It was worse a decade ago, and I recently found out why. Local volunteers are making a huge effort to get people to join beach cleanup campaigns along Japan's long coastline. Japan Environmental Action Network (JEAN) was founded by three Japanese women who wanted to do something about the trash they found on their trips to the ocean, and held its first cleanup event in September 1990. JEAN also joined the Ocean Conservancy’s International Coastal Cleanup, making Japan the fifth nation to become part of this worldwide campaign for pollution prevention. Now they help local groups hold ocean cleanups at more than 150 sites across Japan, with more than 40,000 people volunteering for annual spring and autumn campaigns.

Their motto? "Think Globally, Clean Locally"

Culture & Celebrity

We thought that Anthony Gormley's winning proposal for the fourth plinth was the most ecological art possible: a different person standing on top of a column for an hour, all day, every day, for 100 days. Some commenters at TreeHugger disagreed since people had to travel to get to it and the structure itself wasn't green. But Martin Creed, another English artist, may have upped the stakes with Work No 850, his entry for the controversial Turner Prize. It consists of a runner sprinting through the galleries at Tate Britain. Each one will have to make an 86 metre sprint throughout the art museum, avoiding hitting patrons. That should take 12 seconds, then there will be a 15 second pause, "like a rest in a piece of music", according to the artist, and the next runner will set off. They were recruited from running magazines and each will work a four-hour shift. The artist wants to keep it going for eight hours a day until November, when the prize is awarded.

But is it art? His last piece (a winner) consisted of a light being switched on and off in a gallery, all day long. Of this new work Martin Creed says: "Running is a beautiful thing. You do it without a pool, or a bike; it is the body doing as much as it can on its own." And: "Running is the opposite of being still. If you think about death as being completely still and movement as a sign of life, then the fastest movement possible is the biggest sign of life. So then running fast is like the exact opposite of death: it's an example of aliveness." :: the Independent

More on Ecological Art
:: Anthony Gormley's Fourth Plinth
:: Garden Art
:: National Theatre goes green
:: But Is it Art?
:: But Is it Art?
:: But Is it Art?

Recent Comment by quikboy : "Running around is art? I see this at the track everyday. And what if the runner..." [read]

Science & Technology

Image via Sparking Tech

We're looking for a full-time blogger who can cover the latest, hippest, greenest gadgets and electronics. We are looking for someone who has in-depth knowledge and passion about this topic, can identify and explore current and emerging trends, understands how tech relates to the average consumer, their household and the economy, and can communicate it all clearly to our diverse audience. We're talking about someone who can reach deep into the corners of the Internet and return the with hip prototypes, low-energy computers, upgrading advice, manufacturer responsibility ideas, e-waste reduction concepts, thoughts on grid optimization, and useful websites and apps, etc. Does this like sound like you or someone you know? Then, keep reading, because we also offer a $1,000 referral reward if you connect us with a successful long-term hire.

Business & Politics

Better late than never, I suppose -- though LA's planned 2010 citywide ban still seems downright meek given that San Francisco, Australia and, yes, even China have already or are in the process of implementing a ban. And, of course, it's important to note that this plan will only go through if (and it's a big if) the state fails in its attempt to impose a 25-cent surcharge.

This isn't the first time LA has toyed around with the idea of a ban. The LA County Board of Supervisors raised environmental groups' ire when it watered down crucial provisions of a plastic pollution measure. Under pressure from the plastic bag industry, the board decided to shelve its vote on an outright ban until at least 2010.